Please open your debug.err file in notepad, and copy/paste the contents into a post here. This will give us some technical information that can help troubleshoot your problem. The location you'll find the debug.err in varies depending on your game version:

Dread Lords, all versions:
C:\Program Files\Stardock\Totalgaming\GalCiv2

Dark Avatar 1.5-1.6 (non-Vista):
C:\Program Files\Stardock\Totalgaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar

Dark Avatar 1.6+(Windows Vista), 1.7+(non-Vista):
My Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar

Twilight of the Arnor:
My Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor

Be sure to copy the debug immediately after the error occurs; if you start the game again, the debug will be erased and recreated for the new session.

I am having a similar but more severe problem with flashing. all backgrounds such as the map or toolbar flicker, but the buttons or ships/planets/etc. drawn on them do not. the the whole thing minimizes and i get an error which says, in full text, "The parameter is incorrect." If i dont close this and the program via the taskbar quickly my computer will blue screen. is this a problem with my video card or the game, and how might I fix it? btw im just posting here because it is easier than posting a new thread

I’m also having video glitches, I’d like to post my debug info, but apparently the debug.err file does not exist, I looked both manually, and through using the search option in windows.

When ever there is a 3-5d model that is supposed to slowly spin, it instead speeds at a fully accelerated rate so it looks like a blur. The other glitch, the main one that makes it nearly un-playable able sometimes is when the whole screen shakes. It usually happens when I bump the curser on the edge of the map and it just keeps randomly going around the edges of the map in a blur It usually stops when I click on the middle of the mini map several times.

That worked wonders, thank you very much, that was my problem. I'm still kind of conserned that I don't have that debug file though any idea why I don't have one?

Perfect, thank you, I found it. Now if there is a problem in the future, I'll be able to better inform people.